Primavera Cafe Restaurant — Restaurant in Ludlow

We visited Primavera for the first time Friday and were not impressed. The cafe is cute, but the food and service was just okay especially for the price. We walked in and noticed a sign asking customers to wait to be seated. There was no waiting area other than right there amongst the already seated customers. We awkwardly waited, noticing two servers tending to empty tables and talking amongst themselves. We didn't want to interrupt them to be seated, but after being noticed standing there with nothing said, we decided to walk further into the restaurant to read another sign we saw in case we were waiting in the wrong area. The other sign we saw designated an area for pick up orders. Still confused, we went back to the door to wait. All the while, customers and the two servers had to have seen us walking around aimlessly. I eventually approached one of the servers to ask if we were in fact supposed to wait to be seated or if we were able to seat ourselves. We were then directed to the other side of the cafe as the entrance side was apparently full of reservations. It quickly became clear that the few servers available were focused mostly on the customers who had made reservations. We were eventually approached for our orders, but the food took quite some time to come out. When we did get our meals, the food was luke warm and not really worth the price. We were offered complementary soup with our meals and more bread at some point (which was nice), but through our whole meal we were never offered drink refills. I'm not sure if this is something Primavera does because we are not from here, but it seemed odd to have a whole meal and not be approached for refills, even for water. We sat in the cafe awkwardly waiting between each action for longer than it actually took to eat our meals. Servers continued to pass customers without checking in on them. One couple had been seated for quite a while and had to get a server's attention as she made eye contact with them but was proceeding to pass by, just to have their orders taken. It took quite some time to get our bill and another relatively lengthy waiting period to get my card back after payment. The whole time, servers seemed to be passing by smaller non reserved tables for larger parties or reserved tables. I don't know if it was just an off day or if they are short staffed but it was definitely an off putting experience. We were there for about 2 hours. It probably took us 20 minutes to eat our meals once we got them. All that time, drink refills were never offered and we spent most of it waiting and not being sure of whether or not we should try to get our server's attention. We have both worked in the service industry so we understand and don't usually mind minimal server interaction, but the whole experience was odd. The server was kind when we did see her, but I don't think we'll be back. Especially not for nearly $70 worth of luke warm food. As we left we saw another family awkwardly waiting to be seated. They looked just as confused as we felt...

Haven't had the pleasure of a 6* (yes SIX stars on a five-scale) restaurant in ages but the Primavera Cafe in Ludlow is the real deal.

Reservations are strongly suggested.

The restaurant is spotlessly clean and artfully decorated with great spacing of tables that allows an intimate feel for each group of guests. There are several outdoor tables too, but it was raining.

We were greeted warmly and seated promptly and got a chance to look around and appreciate the decor. Everyone on staff was very busy as the cafe filled yet all were smiling and going about their work with such obvious pride, it was a pleasure to witness and experience a really great team working together. Our service was perfect.

The food is excellent and the portions were large. The chef did such a great job that the normal cafe conversation volume dropped as we all dug into our wonderful meals. My wife had the skewered meat and all the pieces were cooked perfectly, the beef was a perfect medium rare as requested and came with a great flavorful sauce. Seasoned rice and tasty 'round potatoes' rounded out her meal.

I had the Seafood platter a' Primavera and it was a generous portion perfectly cooked and seasoned. Clams, scallops, shrimp & fish which melted in my mouth it was so perfectly cooked and truly delicious. Despite both of us being pretty hungry, neither could finish our meals. Generous portions and very reasonable prices.

The desserts were also amazing but we were really full so we shared a chocolate mousse and she had a excellent cappuccino. We suspect the desserts are all home made and we will be back soon to find out.

PS. It was raining and the first thing our server did was bring us each a cup of vegetable soup and it was so delicious. I remember saying, "Wow, if they cook our food as well as they made this awesome soup, we are in for a fine...

Decided to return for a dining experience after a few years as I used to know the previous owner who has apparently returned to Portugal. Had to be in Ludlow for an event the next day, drove 2 hours prior to dinner and made a reservation along the way. The service was basic order taking, albeit we were never asked how the food or our experience was. The menu did have a couple of good Portuguese wine options, so we went with Floral Alvarinho. We had the Ameijoas Bulhão de Pato (littlenecks) for an appetizer and they were okay, albeit we did notice the 10 units instead of the normal 12 in standard fare. Vegetable soup was okay, albeit lukewarm which probably meant that it set there (just guessing here.) As for entrees, they were out of my favorite fare (Codfish Gomes de Sá) so settled for Shrimp Mozambique which was okay, albeit a bit on the spicy side. My wife ordered the grilled octopus special which should be indeed a specialty for a Portuguese restaurant but unfortunately the endings were overcooked to a crisp, but after slicing those out the rest tasted okay. As for dessert my wife specifically asked if the flan was made with condensed milk, the response was affirmative but on the taste it didn't seem so ... again okay option. So, after so many years, this turned out to be just an okay experience for us with some opportunities for improvement for sure. Wish the new owners all of the best with their investment and this is meant as honest,...